An artist’s drawing of the Chinese Government’s “Friendship Arena” in the heart of Edmonton’s downtown core.

Did Canada miss an opportunity when the federal government acquiesced to a Chinese Government owned company purchasing Alberta energy company Nexen for $15 billion? Did we miss an opportunity when Canadian energy companies agreed to build a pipeline exporting raw oilsands bitumen to China? Perhaps we are not driving a hard enough bargain.

To the legions of Edmonton Oilers fans yearning for a new palace of worship, a three-term city mayor looking for a signature legacy monument, and billionaire hockey team owner seeking a financial subsidy, perhaps the Chinese Government could offer a solution to Edmonton’s never ending downtown arena debate.

From the copper mines of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the natural gas holdings of Turkmenistan, a giant octopus extends its tentacles, trading finished products for natural resources. In South America 90 per cent of exports to China are unprocessed or barely processed natural resources. The proportion is about the same for Africa. China not only extracts, it also constructs. In what the authors call ‘stadium diplomacy’, dozens of ‘friendship stadiums’ are presented as gifts to countries around the world. Critics characterise them as Trojan horses used to conquer local markets.

[…] book on Chinese trade policy, according to a review quoted recently on blogger Dave Cournoyer’s Daveberta.ca site, “dozens of ‘friendship stadiums’ are presented as gifts to countries around the […]

[…] book on Chinese trade policy, according to a review quoted recently on blogger Dave Cournoyer’s Daveberta.ca site, “dozens of ‘friendship stadiums’ are presented as gifts to countries around the […]

Instead of the scam, political whitewash inquiry into queue jumping, for which the cookie monster and those involved all grew selective amnesia, Redfraud could have given the $10million for the arena and we would have only $90m to worry about. Btw the two guys who drafted the queue jumping memo, later did not recall why they wrote it. The political whitewashing has nevertheless continued. All opposition parties wanted an inquiry into Dr. Intimidation and healthcare failures. In retrospect, in light of budget shortfall of $3b+, it would have been better to forgo MLA pension raises and spend all that money to fund the Arena.

@DaveBerta, new topic. Is there a civil war in the ranks of the Tory Party? it appears, it just might be the case. read between the lines. CBC news story, Ethic commissioner has called an inquiry into tobaccogate regarding conflict of interest allegations against the Preem. While as the same time, Preem is calling Queue jumping inquiry and gov’t lawyers are grilling the Ex CEO of Capital Health and soon to grill the Ethics commissioner, the oldtimers of the Tory Guard. Mind you, the ethics commissioner had a previous stint in Capital Health at the same time as the Ex CEO of Capital Health. It could appear, that these two have a few things to corroborate or answer to. So, is is this a civil war between the old and the new, or is it a bilateral whitewash the tories are ochestrating for the public? Thank God CBC still does hard hitting investigative journalism. Nobody else in Alberta does.

If this is not a story worth writing about any intelligent person doesn’t know what is.

The opinions expressed on this blog represent my own and not those of my employer or any organization I may be affiliated with.

In addition, my thoughts and opinions change from time to time. I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and manifestation of the various ideas running around my brain, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not the same, nor even similar, to those I may hold today.

Dave Cournoyer is a writer and political watcher living in Edmonton, Alberta. Contact him at david.cournoyer@gmail.com.